Paint Color – Is My Personality is My Home’s Color Scheme?

Paint Color Personality

My Story

So, a few years ago, this diy home goddess bought her very first house, and the paint color scheme totally sucked. I mean royally sucked. At least from my personality’s perspective. To give you an idea, here’s the paint colors the prior owner had:

Living room – olive green with white trim on chair rail

Dining room – tannish beige with white trim on chair rail

Kitchen – tannish beige

Master bedroom – tannish beige

Kid’s bedroom #1 – bright baby blue (full gloss)

Kids bedroom #2 – bright baby pink and deep rose pink (full gloss)

Basement – white

That was totally not me, and totally gross IMHO. I mean the beige wasn’t too bad if you like bland, but olive green? White trim?

I had to change it right away.

So, off I went to my fav store, The Home Depot, and looked at all the colors available. I wanted something different, something unique, but something that said me. After probably several hours and trips, here’s what I ended up picking:

Living room – banana split (kind of a pale yellow) with chocolate sprinkles on chair rail

Master bedroom – the ex (husband at the time) finally picked dark brown on the bottom, with emerald green on top (so looked like a tree!) It is now an Egyptian tan, with a wood tone on one wall, and a deep chocolate accent on the trim

Make a Change

Anyway, there are a lot of paint colors out there. You don’t need to keep your walls white, or even tan for that matter. You can do whatever you want. Just as a reminder, if you live in an apartment, ask the manager before you do any painting, because they may have certain rules. You can have your walls represent your personality.

You can pick your favorite colors, in all kinds of shades.

Or choose colors that evoke a specific mood.

Is your favorite pastime looking at the sunset? Do that in a room.

Maybe use your zodiac sign as a guideline.

Do it plain or make a pattern (chevron, stripes, do a stencil) in contrasting colors.

It can be subdued or wild.

Or even (like this diy home goddess) represent yourself with your favorite sports team.

The ideas are endless!

Here’s a post I did talking about a quick change in the kitchen, involving doing a paint color job, which can change the whole look of your kitchen!

Let’s Talk Paint Color Ideas

a sample swatch board

Hence, there are a lot of ways you can choose a color for the walls. There is no way all choices can be included in one blog post. Or even a series of blog posts. But let’s go over a few of the main ideas here.

Favorite Color

What if you want to use your favorite color? Let’s talk about what the main colors represent (you can see a whole article here. Maybe your favorite color is one you will want for your bedroom.

Orange – Socializer

Yellow – Logical

Green – Belong, be loved, and secure

Blue – Inner peace and truth

Purple – Emotional security, order and perfection

Pink – Unconditionally loved

Brown – Comfortable existence

Black – Power and control

White – Simplicity

Grey – Middle of the road, conservative

Silver – Spiritual

Gold – Charisma

Mood Colors

There is a theory that a room’s paint color can affect how you feel. I have personally never tested this theory, but maybe I should. Let’s look at paint color ideas by room, via the rainbow. There’s a good article here that goes into a little more detail.

Red – Raises the rooms energy, as well as the blood pressure and heart rate. This would be good in living areas and dining rooms. Not so good for the bedroom.

Orange – Color brings lots of excitement and is VERY energetic, so it’s best used in like an exercise room. Not so much for any other rooms, unless it’s just a small accent color.

Yellow – Communicates happiness. How about the kitchen, dining room, or bathrooms. This color also makes spaces appear bigger. Who wants to be happy in the kitchen? I do!

Green – The most restful eye color (blue and yellow combination). It has a calming effect, and is said to be good for all rooms. Just not olive green! Allegedly it is good for fertility, but I won’t go there. I’ll let you decide.

Blue (in softer shades, darker ones do the opposite) – Lowers blood pressure and heart rate. So obviously this would be good for the bedroom or bathroom. But it tends to give off a chilly feel.

Purple – Brings sophistication, best used as an accent when it is dark. In the lighter hues, can be used in the bedrooms, and does not give off the chill the blue hue does.

Neutrals (black, grey, brown, white) – These go in and out of fashion, and are a fall back for decorators. They might be good if you are trying to sell. If you want to use these colors to live in, definitely use pops of color to liven up the rooms.

Just for Fun – Let’s do Zodiac!

Finally, If you want some fun, look at these websites. They discuss the zodiac signs, and allegedly what colors suit their personalities. As you can see, not everyone agrees on these color schemes as well, so go with your gut when you check these out. Most of all, they are pretty revealing, and they may show some pretty good pictures too.

How do I do it?

It’s just a couple of coats of paint! This diy home goddess took a week off work, and painted the whole house. By herself. Easy peasy! You can do this! This is the easiest home improvement you can do.

First of all, get yourself to a local paint store and grab some of those papers of colors you are thinking of. Next, take them home and tape them onto the walls you are thinking of painting. Live with them for a few days. Stare at them. After that, when you’ve narrowed it down to 2 or 3, go back to the store and buy a sample of each color (usually $2-$3 each). Paint a few wide strokes on the wall. Live with them for a few days. Stare at them. Then make a decision, and go for it. Paint the walls. Just don’t forget to use primer, ESPECIALLY if you are covering a dark color with a lighter one!

In conclusion, you won’t regret it! And if you do, rethink your paint color palette and start over. No big deal! Any diy home goddess can pick up a paint brush.

Written By

About Hestia Athena

I dare to be different. I like the old days, when we did things ourselves and were proud of it! We have enough people in the world who choose to be just like everyone else. Stop following the crowd and put your stamp on the world. At least put your stamp on your world. Give your home your character. Your creativity. Your heart. Vive la difference!